If UFC veteran Curt Warburton was looking to send a message to the lightweights in his new home at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship, he might have done it.

Warburton tore right through Wesley Murch for a standing rear-naked choke victory just 49 seconds into the fighters’ main event at Cage Warriors 62. Warburton’s quick finish was one of four first-round stoppages on Saturday’s main card.

Cage Warriors 62 took place at Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England. The main card streamed live on MMAjunkie following prelims that streamed on Cage Warriors’ Facebook page.

Warburton shot in immediately and took Murch to the canvas. He went after his back and got it without much problem. Murch got back to his feet, but Warburton stayed on him with a body triangle. Murch had to support Warburton’s full weight on his back while defending the choke, but Warburton was relentless. He got the choke in, squeezed, and Murch had to tap.

The end came just 49 seconds into the fight, and Warburton ran across the cage and jumped up top to celebrate in front of the Newcastle fans. The fight was elevated to main-event status when a flyweight title fight between champion Neil Seery and UFC vet Ulysses Gomez was scrapped on Friday when Gomez had to be hospitalized while trying to cut weight.

“I was so focused,” Warburton said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself for this fight. I dug in deep. I’m pleased to get off to a good start for Cage Warriors. I knew (the choke) was getting deeper and deeper, and once it was on, that was it.”

Warburton said the promotion’s lightweight division is strong, and that’s why he came on board to make a run at a title.

“It’s stacked, and that’s why I signed with them. They’re the best promotion about,” he said.

Warburton (13-4) is quickly back in the win column following a September TKO loss at BAMMA 13. Murch (13-7) had a four-fight winning streak snapped in his Cage Warriors debut.

Fishgold dominant early, then survives Pastor rally
In 32 fights, Olivier Pastor had never been submitted. That streak moved to 33 on Saturday, despite Chris Fishgold doing plenty to try to end it. Then Fishgold (10-0) had to survive a third-round rally from Pastor (18-15) to take home a unanimous decision.

Fishgold did solid work on the ground in the first round, fending off some of Pastor’s submission attempts from his back. Although Pastor got back to his feet, Fishgold drove forward and dropped him back to the canvas, where he stayed relentless at the grind.

It was more of the same in the second, as Fishgold again landed a takedown. He then had to worry briefly about Pastor’s hopes for a submission. But Fishgold took his back with well more than four minutes left, and he went after a neck crank, then got his arm under the chin for a rear-naked choke. He had it in deep, but Pastor stripped his hands off to avoid tapping. Pastor got out with a minute left, but couldn’t get much done despite a couple body kicks and a rolling wheel kick.

Pastor tried to turn the tables in the third, and he got Fishgold to the canvas turtled up, where he tried to land ground and pound. Fishgold scrambled back to his feet, but ate a knee and a kick. Pastor briefly had a guillotine choke, but Fishgold escaped with more than half the round left. He took a deep breath, then proceeded to eat a few more punches from the 41-year-old Pastor, who is 20 years older than Fishgold. But Fishgold survived the round and got the unanimous decision based on his big first two rounds. Fishgold took home a trio of 29-28 scores from the judges to stay unbeaten.

Moore on ropes, but pulls out TKO of Knox
Richie Knox (3-1) wanted to give his home Newcastle fans a show, and he did. But then Karl Moore (4-0) pulled a little something out of his back pocket at just the right time. The two tied up early, but Knox landed a pair of knees too low on Moore. On the restart, Knox came out swinging, but it was Moore who landed some solid kicks. Not long after, it was Moore’s turn to land low, and Knox got a chance to walk it off. When they got back at it, Knox landed nicely with a left. Moore countered, but Knox’s output started to build up as he went from body to head and back again. But then, out of nowhere, when it looked as if Moore was about to be finished along the cage, he threw a big left hand that dropped Knox. One punch more on the ground was enough for referee Rich Mitchell to shut things down at the 2:36 mark of the first.

Quinn piles it on for hometown win over Hope
Tommy Quinn made his hometown fans happy in a big way. Quinn (6-1) and Dan Hope (10-6) scrapped early, trading back and forth both at distance and in tight with dirty boxing. But neither fighter seemed to take a distinct advantage through the opening five minutes. But in the second, Quinn started strong and put together several big combinations in close. He hurt Hope and crumpled him. Then, sensing he was ready to be finished, he started piling the punches on. With Hope up against the fence, he hit him repeatedly until he hit the canvas. The referee gave Hope opportunities to survive, but finally had to jump in and pull Quinn off after dozens of unanswered blows. The end came 83 seconds into the second.

Entwistle stops hometown favorite James in 24 seconds
In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it finish, Ian Entwistle (9-1) dodged a right hand from Liam James (8-6), made a crazy entry to a takedown, latched on to James’ right leg, and that was all she wrote. Just 24 seconds into the fight, Entwistle had a masterful heel hook submission over James, who looked as surprised as anyone at what happened – and how quickly things were over. Entwistle jumped onto the cage to celebrate, even as the crowd in James’ hometown sat stunned, as well.

Enlund makes easy work of Lawson
Alex Enlund (9-2) made quick work of Danny Lawson (8-4) to open the main card. Enlund looked for a throw early and got it. He went to work on top, then when Lawson got back to his feet, he slammed him back again. Lawson tried to control Enlund’s hands to keep him from the choke. But Enlund kept at it and got a body triangle with more than three minutes left in the round. He gave it up briefly and landed punches, but then flattened Lawson out and sank in a rear-naked choke to get the finish at the 2:46 mark of the fight.

The Latest

Since the early days when the sport was anything but a mainstream endeavor, the MMA industry has thrived and survived through various websites, forums and, perhaps most importantly, social-media platforms.

In this week’s Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes look at Ronda Rousey’s 34-second victory over Bethe Correia at UFC 190 and try to put it into terms that capture the moment without getting swept away by it.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?